March 25
MUSIC
Elvis Perkins in Dearland
If Fat Tuesday is about masquerading in costume, then Ash Wednesday reminds us that without these adornments, we are the dust of the earth. Folk rock quartet Elvis Perkins in Dearland’s debut LP, Ash Wednesday (XL Recordings), brings the theme home with a back-to-basics approach, forgoing digital software and studio subterfuge for analog tape and home-grown demos to create emotionally authentic autobiographical tracks. (Joshua Rotter)
With Let’s Go Sailing
8 p.m., $12
Cafe du Nord
2170 Market, SF
(415) 861-5016
www.cafedunord.com
MUSIC
Gilberto Gil
Breaking it down and bringing fierce and introspective grooves, Bahia, Brazil, native Gilberto Gil has shown that you can be both a groundbreaker and a policy maker. Brazil’s minister of culture for the last four years, Gil and fellow musician Caetano Veloso led the musical-sociocultural movement Tropicália in the ’60s. The Tropicalista’s fightin’ nature is little evident on Gil’s lovely recent solo guitar and vocal album, Gil Luminoso (DRG), a haunting collection of spare, evocative songs written over the last 25 years. (Kimberly Chun)
7 p.m., $36–$68
Zellerbach Hall
UC Berkeley, Lower Sproul Plaza
(near Bancroft at Telegraph), Berk.
(510) 642-9988
Also March 28, 7:30 p.m., $45-$65
Fox Theatre
2209, Broadway, Redwood City
www.foxdream.com